Promises
by Obliterated Innocence
Summary: Promises are important to Pauline. She knows that Mario won't be coming back, and she also knows that he won't be able to keep the promises he made to her those years ago. What happens when Pauline gets a message from an old friend whom had feelings for her before he left? Will Pauline be able to trust him, and the promises he makes to her? Or will her fear of broken promises win?


_**.:~ "Promises" ~:.**_

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**_((A/N: Alright, to save you guys from reading something you possibly won't like, i'm going to warn you now. There's nothing relatively bad about this one shot, just the fact that it centers around a certain Mario character that I feel receives unfair judgment and abuse by most of the writers on this site. You guys don't like Pauline? Then please, go read something else, because this fiction will not be for you.))_**

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_"Pauline, _

_I know it's been some time since I've last written you._

_I'm sorry to say this, but I just have to cut to the chase instead of sugar-coating the truth as I have done in the past._

_We've known one another for a long time, Pauline, and I really will miss you when this is over, but I don't think we can continue our relationship anymore; Luigi and I have decided that we'll be living in the Mushroom Kingdom now, so we will not be returning to Brooklyn as I had promised to you before._

_I'm going to be honest. I've fallen in love with a woman, and this time she is not you._

_Our relationship has been struggling lately, and I accept that this is my fault due to the fact that I am living so far away and that I hardly ever wrote to you during those long months._

_I just can't have a long-distance girlfriend anymore, especially now that I have another woman in my life._

_You'll be angry when you read this, and I don't really blame you for it, I know I would be displeased as well. _

_I know I promised to come back to you all those years ago._

_I know I promised that we'd be married off and living in a nice mansion up in Alabama._

_I know I promised that I would do many things for you once Luigi and I came back, but plans change, Pauline, whether you approve or not._

_I'm sure you won't wish to hear from me again after this ends; so I promise not to burden you with apologies and more letters in the future._

_That is one promise I intend to keep._

_This is goodbye Pauline, I hope you have a happy remainder of your life._

_Mario."_

Pauline sat at the edge of her scarlet sheeted bed, tears rolling down her cheeks as she continued to read the letter that was clutched within her aberrantly pale palms.

A strand of her chocolate hair dared to sway in front of her face as her eyes scanned the piece of paper, and she tucked it behind her ear before continuing to read the letter, while softly repeating the sentences of it to herself.

She reread the letter an innumerable amount of times before folding it closed and throwing it into the open box that lay innocently atop her dresser.

Tears of agony continued to pour down her face as she lay buried under the scarlet sheets; her vision was blurred, but she knew well that she would have to wash the mascara from her sheets once the stage of mourning had come to it's end.

She buried her face into her hands and continued to bawl, in reminiscence of a little girl after breaking her favorite 'Barbie' doll.

She wailed for what had seemed like hours..

Alas, she knew well she had been a fool for believing that he would return to her; Mario had never been a man for long distance relationships, and that was how she should have known that their relationship would not be strong enough to withstand the cruel distance between them.

But she had vehemently denied any sign that showed her that the two would not last, for she had been blinded by the false interpretation that Mario would continue to love her and would even return to her one day.

Why?

Because she wanted to believe that he would return.

Love had been known to play harrowing games with her in the past, and Mario had not been an exception.

It had always been that way, perhaps even back when she was a young girl chasing after boys that were far too old for her to even consider being romantically involved with.

"Oh Mario.." Pauline hissed through her tears "I gave up practically everything for you; my ideals, my family, my dream of moving to Alabama, my well-paying job, I even gave up most of my money to move out here with you!"

She continued to wail then, with her face buried into her sheets.

Mario had always been a man of his word; that had always been her favorite characteristic that he had. When he promised something to her, he made damn well sure that he did it.

Perhaps that was why she was so positive that he would come back to her...?

**_.:~ ✿ ~:._**

Pauline had, at last, ceased her sobbing no more than a mere ten minutes ago; however, those actions alone did not mean that she had recovered from her break up with Mario.

She carried on with her activities and chores throughout the evening as in reminiscence of a zombie.

Her eyes no longer held that energy within them, and her movements were lifeless; it was as if she had her will ripped from her heart and shattered into innumerable pieces.

Pauline, with her hands full of her favorite scarlet bed sheets in her arms and her thoughts in a haze, had been heading to wash the mascara off of them. Those were her most adored bed sheets, for they had been given to her as a housewarming gift from her grandmother when she had moved in along with Mario, and she did not wish to have them ruined by her tears of betrayal and shattered shards of promises that Mario could not keep.

She sat the sheets down to open the door, grumbling unintelligible nonsense to herself as she fumbled around in her jean pockets to find her key card and made sure that it remained to be in her pockets when she left, locking herself out of her apartment would simply be the highlight of her day.

Once she arrived within the laundry room of her apartment, she sat her sheets down once more and inserted a quarter from her change pocket into the machine; she listened intently as the washing machine whirred to life.

She heard the water beginning to pour within the machine.

She reached for the small bottle of 'Tide' and gripped it tightly in her palm as she poured some of it into the machine; she placed the bottle to it's original resting place and carefully sat the sheets within the washing machine.

She pressed the button on the machine, and it began to spin it's cycle.

Pauline's gaze drifted to the digital clock that hung above the entrance.

"5:32 in the evening? That can't be right..." Pauline scoffed, it had been well before lunch once Pauline had mustered the courage to read Mario's damned letter, had she honestly mourned that long over him?

God knows that Pauline missed Mario, but...

Pauline emitted a scoff as she pulled her phone from her jacket pocket and turned it on to see if she had received any new messages during her session of anguish.

Her eyes widened in surprise as she saw that she had received 6 missed calls and four new messages; she checked her missed calls first and could not suppress a faint smile of endearment as she saw that several of her friends has attempted to contact her.

What made her smile even more was that Johnny had actually called her at twelve that afternoon, for whatever reason she did not know; nonetheless, the fact that he had called her had lifted her spirits.

Johnathon Alexander Brookes, though he simply preferred being addressed as 'Johnny' rather than anything else, was the leader of a ragtag group of greasers that were well known by the inhabitants of Brooklyn.

How Johnny became involved with the greasers was beyond Pauline's comprehension, seeing as how he was the supposed son of the wealthiest man in the city and how she also was under the impression that Johnny was given literally anything he demanded as a child.

...Well, almost anything.

Nonetheless, Johnny became a greaser, and was the ringleader of most mischief occurring within the city during the night over the course of the years she had lived in Brooklyn.

Pauline had to admit, she had admired Johnny and his bull-headed nature for quite some time; alas, she had refused to allow him to get close to her due to the fact that she was still in denial that Mario would return to her.

She was then able to recollect her memories of when she last conversed with the handsome man; he had been attempting to persuade her into coming with him on a trip that he and his 'fellas' were taking that evening.

He had tried pretty hard, if Pauline had to say so herself, it was not everyday that she was showered with gifts of all varieties, let alone even having been paid so much attention that is actually reddened her cheeks.

Alas, she had finally convinced him to leave her be for that day, and the last she had seen of him was when they all took off on their motorcycles and rode off into the sunset.

She saw him glance back at her once, and when their eyes met, she had flashed him an apologetic smile; he returned the smile with an annoyed scoff and by rolling his eyes.

She knew she must have had a good reason for needing to keep his number registered in her phone..

Pauline flipped to the four messages she had received.

The first message she had received was from one of her 'BFF's', whom Pauline had come to address as 'Alice'.

_"Hey girl!_

_LOL, u would never believe who I saw today! _

_Guess who it was? ;) I'll give ya a lil hint, he's still as crazy over ya as he was when he left. _

_Ya, it was ol' Johnny Brookes!_

_I gave him yo address, so be expecting a visit from the ol' devil later on today._

_Well, dats all I wanted 2 say. Love ya ;)!_

_XOXOXOXO"_

..Yes, that was Alice for her, always giving people her personal information just for the simple fact that they held an interest in her.

Well, at least she would be able to see Johnny again; he always had been good to her, even if all he sought was her affection.

Pauline shifted down to the next message, which was from another friend of her's, whom was best known as 'Leo', when she was interrupted by the loud beeping of the washing machine.

"Well, that was fast.." Pauline said to no one in particular as she opened the lid to the washing machine and removed her bed sheets and placed them in the dryer beside it.

Pauline fumbled through her pockets once more, searching for another quarter. Surely she had one, her pockets were always filled with loose change, she honestly needed a wallet..

"Oh come on, not now, damn it..." Pauline hissed, now desperately searching through every pocket she had.

"Thank god no one's here to see this.." Pauline thought to herself.

Pauline fumbled through her pockets for a few moments more, and was finally able to grasp a quarter in her palm. She emitted a soft sigh of relief, and the tension in her shoulders was immediately released.

She moved a strand of her hair from her eyes, inserted the quarter into the dryer and pressed the button.

The machine reacted the exact same way as the washing machine that sat beside it.. The dryer was instantly ignited with life, and it began to rumble loudly as it began to dry the sopping wet scarlet sheets.

Pauline turned on her phone once more, and shifted her gaze back to Leo's message.

_"Hey Pauline._

_I haven't seen you in months, and i'm free from work this weekend. I was wondering if you'd like for me to treat you to some of that coffee you like at Thomas's old café down the street from my place._

_What do you say? It'd be nice to catch up with you some time, you've always been the one to have interesting stories to tell."_

Pauline scoffed, she knew well that this was one of Leo's not-so-clever plans to seduce her as he had done in the past.

It was not that she did not appreciate the offers Leo gave her, but she simply did not wish to be toyed with. Leo had always been the one to lie and cheat on her when they courted as teenagers, and he made her seem like a fool to his friends.

It took her months to get Leo's friends off of her nerves; and she did not wish to have them trailing her once more.

It made her wonder.. why did she even speak to Leo now? She had no reason to look at him, let alone to be his friend.

Pauline clicked the delete button on her phone, and observed with a triumphant smirk lacing her lips as she saw the following message appeared on the screen of her phone:

_"Message deleted successfully."_

Pauline then shifted her gaze to the next message, from an unknown number.

_"U__ will die 2nite :)!11111!"_

Pauline sighed heavily in irritation, she got messages like this one quite often; they were most likely coming from a childish 9 year old boy that was simply bored out of his mind without his 'Pokemon' game while his parents were away at dinner for the evening.

She then deleted that message as well.

At last, Pauline reached the final message, which apparently had been from Johnny himself. Alice obviously had given him more than just her address..

_"What's up, Paulie?_

_I bet you're wondering how in the hell I even got your number, am I right? Yeah, I know you are, don't lie to me._

_I paid old Alice a visit and we chatted for a bit, she ended up giving me your number and address. I'm gonna get situated back at my old place before I pay you a visit, hope you don't mind._

_As a matter of fact, are you up for a ride tonight? The fellas and I are going riding out in the city tonight, I could show you the upper part of Brooklyn you've been wanting to see, if you haven't done so already._

_I promise, this will be fun for you, you're gonna love it!"_

Pauline smiled once more, Johnny still had not forgotten about her.

What was even better was the fact that now... she didn't have Mario holding her back from making her love life better again.

..After all.. what was the goal in spending the rest of her life bawling over a man that she wasted 7 years of her life with? He obviously didn't seem to mind dropping her flat on her face and running after another bitch, so what was the point?

The dryer beeped loudly from behind Pauline, snapping her out of her thoughts.

"Tonight's going to be a blast" Pauline thought to herself "He promised.."

Promises weren't ever made to be broken, but once Pauline pondered upon the subject more, she realized that Mario had never truly kept his promises he made to her. He had always ended up breaking them in one way or another, but not in ways that Pauline could knowingly acknowledge it.

Mario had her believe that he would never break the promises he made to her; perhaps that was why she was convinced he had been truthful to her?

Johnny? Pauline didn't know for sure if he could keep them or not, but she'd simply have to see for herself once he paid her a visit tonight.

Trusting someone to keep their promise was an extreme risk; and Pauline knew well that she was a risk taker, just look how long she waited for Mario to return to her and fulfill his promise to her.

..Johnny was a risk she'd simply have to take.

Pauline's thoughts drifted to Mario once more, and she scowled at the thought of him sitting at another table with a gorgeous blonde haired woman and speaking to her in that sweet tone of voice that he quite often used with her before he left to the Mushroom Kingdom.

She realized that she too, had made a promise to him before he had left; she had promised him that she would keep all the letters and photographs she had of them together.. and keep them in a small cerise box that was held together by a single piece of crimson ribbon.

She promised him that she would keep it until he returned to her once more.

..That obviously was not going to happen, as of now..

Pauline retrieved her now soft and clean bed sheets and held them close as she headed back to her apartment.

Once she arrived at her doorstep, she held the bed sheets in her right arm while she searched for her keys in her jacket pocket.

Once she found them, she inserted the key into the lock and pushed her door open.

Pauline was greeted by a frigid wind once she entered her apartment, and she shuddered, how could she have been so unaware of the temperature of her apartment before she left?

Pauline sat her bed sheets upon the dining table as she headed into her bedroom and switched on her lamp that lay innocently upon her night stand.

Her gaze drifted to the gorgeously painted box that now lay atop her bed, photographs and letters scattered around it; she stifled a scoff, and refused to allow tears to return to her.

She was not going to let Mario dictate her emotions, never again..

Pauline tossed the photos and letters into the accursed box and wandered around her apartment, grabbing every memory of her and Mario and buried them within the box.

Once she was positive that she had all of the memories within the box, and carried the it into the living room. She tossed the box into the fire place, for she had yearned to heat her apartment before Johnny had arrived.

She watched the box crack and crinkle as the flames devoured it; a smile graced her lips once she saw a photo fall out of the open hole at the bottom of the box.

Pauline recognized the photo immediately, it was of herself, Mario and Luigi in the summer about six years ago; they had gone to the beach that day due to the fact that Luigi detested wasting a scorching hot day stuck inside the house and not at the beach.

She observed as the smiles that were trapped in time were roasted by the flames, and for a moment, she felt grief.

It would have been lovely if Mario had returned to her, Luigi as well.

Luigi had been different to her than Mario had; it was true that Mario was kind to her while they dated, but she was always able to perceive the concealed hint of lust within those eyes of his..

Luigi had treated her as if he had known her his entire life, he treated her as if she were his actual friend, and that was something that Pauline had simply found in Luigi that she could not find in Mario.

Then again, Pauline felt that relationships needed love and attraction more than friendship...

Pauline turned away from the flames, and began to head into her bedroom to change into more appropriate attire for her ride with Johnny tonight.

Mario, he was now nothing more than a distant memory to her; just as she was to him.

She could see him now with that prepossessing blonde woman, Mario had always fancied blonde's, and Pauline could tell that he didn't very much care for her dull, brown hair.

She could see him holding her hand as they travelled throughout the Mushroom Kingdom.. his thoughts nowhere even close to pondering about her.

...And Pauline knew that she would have to do the same.

Pauline slipped off her jacket and tank top along with her sneakers and jeans. She tossed them into the dirty clothes basket and scoffed once she knew that she would have to return to the laundry mat once more that night.

Pauline chose attire that was much more to her liking, which was her favorite pair of faded denim skinny jeans along with a long sleeved vermillion turtleneck.

She pulled on her favorite white fuzzy boots, and threw on her sleeveless snow white jacket over her turtleneck.

For once, Pauline decided to let her hair fall freely over her shoulders; it had seemed to her like an eternity since she had actually allowed her hair to be free from the usual ponytails she wore frequently.

She glanced at the black and pink digital alarm clock that lay beside her lamp on her night stand.

7: 34 p.m...

"Damn, it's late.. Was I really at the laundry mat for more than an hour..?" Pauline wondered.

She was jolted out of her thoughts as she heard a knock at her door; a smile graced her lips once more as she applied lip gloss to them before heading to the door.

"Ey, ey Paulie! Guess who?" A voice came from behind the door, his voice hadn't changed at all. It was still as sweet and sexy as she had found it to be before he had left Brooklyn.

"I'm coming~!" Pauline responded cheerfully, perhaps more than she had intended to in the first place.

Pauline scampered past the fireplace, and caught a glimpse of the ashes of her memories of Mario before stopping at the door.

She remembered the last line of his damned letter.

_"I hope you have a happy remainder of your life."_

"I'll be sure to.. i'm not waiting around for any one to come to me anymore. I guess I have you to thank for that.. don't I, Mario?" Pauline thought bitterly to herself as she stood at her doorway.

"..I hope you learn to keep your promises to that new woman of yours.. God knows I don't want any one else to go through what I've endured.."

Pauline gripped the doorknob in her palm, glanced once more at the remnants of the small box before opening the door..

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_**Blah~! Okay, this one was fun to write :)**_

_**I hope you guys didn't think this one was too bad; this was actually inspired by a similar fanfiction I read about Pauline by bekbekah92. **_

_**You guys know, I really feel bad for ol' Pauline; she really has it hard, I bet. I mean, she gets dumped by Mario for Peach. Not only that, she's made out to be a whore and a bitch by almost every fanfiction writer I actually find writing about her.**_

_**I decided to give old Pauline a break, hopefully I didn't butcher Mario's character too much. I know that Mario really is a good guy and all, but you have to wonder what he said to Pauline after he dumped her for Peach.**_

_**This was meant to be more of a motivational one shot than anything else, actually. I should do more of these, they're surprisingly fun to write :)**_

_**Anyways, try not to get mad and start PMing me with all this rage about how Pauline is a whore because she gets in the way of Mario/Peach and blah, blah, blah.. because I really don't want to hear it. **_

_**This is Angel, signing out!**_

_***click***_


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